Study
A tiger cannot change its stripes: using a three-dimensional model to match images of living tigers and tiger skins
Hiby, L.; Lovell, P.; Patil, N.; Kumar, N. S.; Gopalaswamy, A. M.; Karanth, K. U.
Biology Letters, 2009
A three-dimensional surface model of a tiger was fitted to each photograph so that the stripe pattern could be sampled from the same body region regardless of camera angle or posture. Matching performance was then measured against photographs of individuals whose identity was already known, and the same procedure was applied to photographs of confiscated skins.
- Studied in
- Panthera tigris
- Sample size
- photographs of known individuals used to test matching, plus confiscated skins
The flank pattern identifies an individual reliably once camera angle and posture are corrected for, and the method matches a skin to a photograph of the living animal it came from.
What it means
The authors' reading, and ours. Where they differ, that difference is the point.
How the authors put it
Pattern matching from a three-dimensional model provides a robust identification tool for population monitoring, and can trace a seized skin to a specific known tiger.
How NatureHQ reads it
Two things follow, and the second is easy to miss. The pattern is individually unique in a way that survives real photographic conditions, which is what makes tiger population estimates possible at all. And a skin carries that pattern well enough to be matched to the living animal — which is why a pelt looks striped, and why "the skin is striped" feels obviously true to anyone who has seen one. A tanned skin still has its hair on.
- Requires a usable flank view; head-on or heavily obscured photographs cannot be scored.
- Tested against a known-identity set from specific study areas rather than across the whole range.
- The forensic application depends on the living animal already being in a photographic database.
What this study is used for on NatureHQ
One study can inform several subjects. Here is everywhere this one is cited.
Published by: The Royal SocietyPublished by the Royal Society.
doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2009.0028
This reference was resolved automatically against Crossref on 2026-08-11.
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